C h a z z W r i t e s . c o m

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02/16/2011 • 11:45 AM 1

Writers’ Union of Canada VIDEO (plus a cool NEW word! Yay!)

Yesterday I blogged about The Writers’ Union of Canada and that particular post wasn’t altogether complimentary. In fact, I proposed that if they didn’t open up their membership criteria to self-published authors, an indie union could be formed.

I hope that isn’t necessary since it could duplicate effort across platforms and dilute the voice of the writing profession. (However, if the self-published aren’t represented at all…hm. I won’t get sucked into a rehash. If you missed it, read, cogitate, plot and plan.)

But I’m all about the balance. For instance, I complained in a long ago post that TWUC’s judging of one year’s short story competition…well, it sucked. I’ve also been very complimentary with regard to their most recent symposium in Toronto (that also went on tour across Canada.)

This video on Canada’s proposed copyright law is an example of one of the good things unions can do to deal with The Man. The education provision does appear too broad and is a detriment to writers who are, as the legislation is written, voluntold to give up recompense for their work.

Voluntold

Chazz Definition: To have your services, product and/or time volunteered by someone other than you who has no business telling you what to do with your services, product and/or time.

(e.g. “I can’t order you on a suicide mission but I need five volunteers to storm that machine gun nest. You, you, you, you and you, go! You’ve been voluntold. A grateful nation honors your blah, blah, blah…”)

Opportunity knocks? Self-published writers could unionize (plus association links for writers) (chazzwrites.wordpress.com)
Writers: Are you skeptical about self-publishing? (chazzwrites.wordpress.com)
Writers: Dump your preconceptions (and your word processor) (chazzwrites.wordpress.com)

Filed under: authors, Books, Cool Word of the Day, publishing, Rant, self-publishing, Writers, Writing Conferences, Arts, authors, Copyright, Publish, self-publish, Writers Resources, Writers' Union of Canada

02/16/2011 • 5:11 AM 5

Edit Point: One another versus each other

Book cover (Dust jacket) for the 15th edition ...

Image via Wikipedia

“The pair looked at one another.”

No, they didn’t.

Editing is often intuitive. I could tell you, for instance, which usage is correct, but I couldn’t tell you why. It came up with a project and I got curious. Then I went to the Chicago Manual of Style. Here’s why for this one:

When two people are involved, the best way to write it is, “They looked at each other.” When it’s more than two people (or things, for that matter) use “one another.”

The distinction becomes clearer with things: “His eyesight was so poor that when he looked to the bowling pins standing at the end of the lane, they were just a soft white mass. Dave couldn’t distinguish one from another.” (That’s right.)

“Each other” in a group hits the reader’s eyes and ears wrong and they may not know why. (This is one reason reading aloud as you edit can be such a powerful trick of the trade.)

It’s not a big deal unless you’re a word nerd or getting paid to edit something. However, usually, if you write a passage that hits the reader wrong or makes them go back, there’s something quirky there that needs another look.

Writers: Use a spill file as you edit (chazzwrites.wordpress.com)
[process] Revising versus editing (jlake.com)
Writers: How I edit (chazzwrites.wordpress.com)
Why you should never, ever use two spaces after a period. (slate.com)

Filed under: Books, Editing, Editors, manuscript evaluation, publishing, rules of writing, Writers, writing tips, Chicago Manual of Style, Copy editing, each other versus one another, edit, editing, language usage, Style guide

02/16/2011 • 5:00 AM 1

Ahoy, matey! Neil Gaiman VIDEO on why book piracy can be good

I’ve spoken with several publishers on this topic. They knew they shouldn’t do what the music industry did (i.e. sue their own customers) but that’s typically where the thought process ended. At a writing conference I recently attended, there were a lot of worried writers. They worried that someone would steal their stuff.

Don’t worry about it.

It’s either:

1. pretty rare (maybe it’s not good enough to bother stealing—uh-oh!),

OR

2. the people who steal it are power users and curators who are going to read more of your stuff and pay for it and the related products and services you sell (so be prolific and imaginative),

OR

3. the pirates are scum who never pay for anything anyway so the sale isn’t really lost. If they weren’t stealing your stuff, they’d be stealing someone else’s stuff instead. (Don’t waste time or base your business model on the lowest common denominator douche.)

Maybe that’s counter-intuitive, but I’d rather concern myself with factors I can control rather than worry about things I cannot control.

Free not only can work, giving to get often does work. You can hide your light under a bushel or put it out there so more people can find it. Scott Sigler built a bestselling franchise, for instance. So did Cory Doctorow, and the list of authors who embrace free and easy access is growing.

Repurpose what you write so more people can find you (and find you interesting.) The churning of information raises sales.

There are some instances of publishers stealing work, but it’s a rare anecdote, especially in an era where, with Google, stolen material is so easy to find. I’ve found a few things stolen from my features and columns in magazines. Usually it’s a case of someone on the other end who is clueless rather than malicious. We just ask that they attribute the material so I get credit and make sure a link back to the source is included. That’s the basis of the Creative Commons model. It’s not really a big deal.

What people forget is, though e-books and web bits are easy to snatch, so is a regular old paper book. When I worked at Harlequin, foreign knockoffs happened often in the Chinese and French romance markets.) The text was stolen and lousy covers were slapped on the books. All they needed was a photocopier. Easy, peasy, lemon squeezy.

Consider this: put some or all of your book up on your website (using whatever model you choose: a taste, weekly podcast-a-chapter meal or the whole feast at once) and you’ve got proof of ownership in every time stamp.